Apple Publishes a New App Store “Principles and Practices” Page

With WWDC ’19 just around the corner, Apple has just published a new “Principles and Practices” page that attempts to make a case for how the company runs the App Store.

We created the App Store with two goals in mind: that it be a safe and trusted place for customers to discover and download apps, and a great business opportunity for all developers.

The page features and details positive things about the App Store and lists stats about how many apps Apple reviews every week, and how many apps are approved or rejected.

As part of our rigorous app review process, we use a combination of automated systems and hundreds of human experts. This team represents 81 languages across three time zones. We work hard to maintain the integrity of the App Store. In fact, since 2016, we have removed over 1.4 million apps from the App Store because they have not been updated or don’t work on our most current operating systems. This helps unclutter the search for new apps, and makes it easier for users to find quality apps.

Apple is also listing several apps that the company says competes with Apple’s own apps, although the company fails to mention how the company still has the upper-hand in most of those cases.

Apple App Store Mail Apps

Let’s take the case of mails apps, for example. There’s no way Gmail, Spark, Outlook and Yahoo! Mail are on the same level playing field as the built-in & native Mail.app on iOS. You can’t set either of those apps are the default mail app on iOS instead of Apple’s Mail app, so all mailto: links still open Mail.app. Similarly, Apple’s own web-browser Safari and messaging app Messages have the upper-hand over other “competing” apps.

And then there’s this:

Apple App Store Principles and Practices Page

84% of apps are free, and developers pay nothing to Apple.

I get what Apple is trying to say here, but the “developers pay nothing to Apple” bit is highly misleading when you consider that one simply cannot publish an app on the App Store without paying $99/year to Apple for the Apple Developer Program membership. Even if one has to publish a free app for iOS, they need to shell out over ₹ 7000/year just to sign up for the membership.

May 29, 2019 ✚ Permalink

Apple Short Lists First Retail Store Location in India

Saritha Rai, reporting for Bloomberg:

The iPhone giant has zeroed in on several upscale sites in Mumbai, and plans to make a final decision in the next few weeks, said the people, asking not to be named because the discussions are private. The vetted spots are comparable to iconic Apple locations on Fifth Avenue in New York, Regent Street in London or the Champs-Elysees in Paris, they said.

It seems like it’s finally happening.

May 8, 2019 ✚ Permalink

Office 365 Comes to the Mac App Store

Apple’s Press Release on their Newsroom:

Today, Office 365 is available for the first time on the Mac App Store, making it easier than ever for Mac users to download Word, Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and the whole suite of Microsoft’s popular apps. Users can also purchase a subscription for Office 365 from within the apps, so they can get up and running instantly.

This was announced at WWDC in June last year. I wonder how much of a cut from the subscriptions is Apple getting from this.

My bet? Not a lot.

January 25, 2019 ✚ Permalink

Apple Decreases Pricing of Apps on the Indian App Store As it Adjusts Pricing for Several Countries

App Store India Pricing January 2018

Apple has adjusted the App Store pricing for several countries this week to account for foreign exchange rate fluctuations and tax changes. App Store developers were notified of this change via an email earlier this week, as reported by 9to5Mac. Apple periodically adjusts the pricing on the App Store to account for these changes and the last major change for pricing of apps for Apple customers in India happened in January 2017 when Apple increased the pricing of apps on the App Store for India by around 25% to 32%.

App Store Pricing Adjustment for India

According to the email that Apple sent out to developers, the pricing for apps in India will decrease.

India: Prices will decrease for apps and in-app purchases (including auto-renewable subscriptions)

As a consumer, it’s obvious to get excited upon reading that, but wait till you hear the new pricing that is now live on the App Store. The pricing of apps on App Store India has been reduced by Rs. 1. That’s right, apps will cost less by a whole Rupee going forward.

Here are the top pricing tiers now active on the App Store:

App Store India Pricing January 2018

App Store India Pricing January 2018

I’m not really sure why Apple decided to make this minor change to the pricing. I’m hoping that this ₹1 discount is just cosmetic — such that the pricing appears in line with the standard xx.99 way and that the change announced in the email is rolling out in the coming days with a notable change in the pricing.

What do you think about this change? Let me know your thoughts on Twitter @preshit or @nuclearbits.

[h/t @macpeercom]

January 26, 2018 ✚ Permalink

Apple is Hiring for 9 Different Positions for the Apple Online Store Engineering team in Hyderabad

Apple has updated its Jobs portal with a listing of 9 new available positions for its Apple Online Store (AOS) Engineering team based at its new development campus in Hyderabad, India. These listings were posted on the portal late evening yesterday, just days after the Indian Government approved 100% Foreign Direct Investment for Single-Brand Retail in the country, signaling a major win for Apple, who has been trying to open its own stores in India for a little over 3 years now.

Apple India is hiring for the following positions for the Apple Online Store team in Hyderabad:

  • Software Engineering Manager
  • Machine Learning Engineer
  • Software Engineer
  • Senior Software Engineer
  • Software Engineer in Test
  • DevOps Engineer
  • Engineering Project Manager
  • Platform Engineer
  • Senior Tech Lead

Some of the job descriptions included with these postings:

Today, the Apple Online Store (AOS) provides one of the best multichannel commerce experiences in the world, and operates in 37 countries worldwide.

At AOS, its Engineering team is responsible for the global eCommerce platform that serves millions of customers around the world. We are a team highly skilled Software Engineering Managers, Engineers, Analysts and Project Managers based in Cupertino, London and Singapore.

These nine job listings are specifically for the Apple Online Store Engineering team. There are other available positions currently listed for other teams and other departments, but these 9 jobs were all posted together late yesterday evening.

This development may or may not mean that Apple is preparing to launch an Apple Online Store in India, but one care surely hope. Whatever be the case, what’s certain is Apple is expanding its Apple Online Store Engineering team in Hyderabad, along with its Site Reliability Engineering team, Information Systems & Technology team, the Strategic Data Solutions department, and of course, the Apple Maps team.

January 20, 2018 ✚ Permalink

App Store Sees Record-Breaking Numbers

Apple has announced that its App Store had a fantastic run in 2017, especially during the holiday season leading up to the new year.

App Store customers around the world made apps and games a bigger part of their holiday season in 2017 than ever before, culminating in $300 million in purchases made on New Year’s Day 2018. During the week starting on Christmas Eve, a record number of customers made purchases or downloaded apps from the App Store, spending over $890 million in that seven-day period.

Apple says that it paid out $26.5 Billion to iOS developers, an increase of over 30 percent compared to 2016. Since its launch in 2008, the App Store has made $86 Billion for iOS developers around the world.

The new App Store introduced in iOS 11 got a lot of things right, and Apple knocked it out of the park with their approach. I’m loving the curation on the US App Store — I just wish I had landed that App Store Editor job I had applied for at Apple India.

January 5, 2018 ✚ Permalink

Apple Increases Pricing of Apps on the App Store in India

iOS App Store

Apple has today sent out an email to iOS developers notifying them of upcoming changes to the pricing on the App Store. According to the email, the pricing of apps and in-app purchases (IAPs) will increase in India, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.

Apple mentions that this price change is due to change in tax laws in the India, Romania and Russia, but it doesn’t mention why the pricing is changing in the UK. It’s likely that Apple is merely adjusting the pricing to be in line with the falling value of the Pound Sterling against the US Dollar.

If you’re in India, here’s what the pricing change means and how it’ll affect you.

(more…)

January 17, 2017 ✚ Permalink

No Apple Stores in India if 30% Sourcing Rules Stay: Report

Chaitali Chakravarty & Writankar Mukherjee, reporting for ETtech:

[…] Apple has no immediate plans to manufacture devices in India or buy parts from vendors in the country, said two persons with knowledge of the matter.

The company, however, wants permission to set up stores without conditions attached, said the two people cited above. Since the idea behind the local sourcing rule was to create jobs in India, that aim has already been achieved with Apple lining up two big investments in the country, they said.

I’ve been keeping a close eye on the developments around Apple opening its company-run Apple Stores in the country, and it looks like it’s time to give up all hope about it.

June 1, 2016 ✚ Permalink